The invention relates to a product delivery apparatus for a vending machine, adapted for delivering at the time of selling downward a product for sale located lowermost among a plurality of products stored in a product passage in such a state that they are vertically stacked on top of one another.
In general, a serpentine column, which is vertically extended in a serpentine state, has hitherto been applied to a product passage for a vending machine wherein products, for example, can beverage products or PET bottle products, are stored in such a state that they are vertically stacked on top of one another. A product delivery apparatus for delivering, at the time of selling, downward a product for sale only among a plurality of products stored in the column is provided at the lower end of the column. The product delivery apparatus provided in a conventional serpentine column comprises: a stopper which, under stand-by condition, supports the lowermost product for sale from the underside of the product for sale and, in addition, at the time of selling, supports a product for next sale, located just above the product for sale, from the underside of the product for next sale and, immediately after supporting the product for next sale, releases the support of the product for sale; a solenoid for driving the stopper; and the like.
Another product delivery apparatus known in the art is described in a microfilm of Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 160575/1986. This product delivery apparatus comprises: a semi-cylindrical delivery member which, under stand-by condition, supports a product for sale from the underside of the product for sale in such a state that the lower half part of the product for sale is accommodated in the delivery member; and a drive motor for driving and rotating the delivery member at the time of selling, wherein, upon the rotation of the delivery member supporting the product for sale at about 180 degrees at the time of selling, the product for sale is delivered downward. The delivery member in the product delivery apparatus is constructed so that an adapter having a predetermined shape for raising can be mounted on the inner face of the delivery member according to the diameter of products to be sold. By virtue of the mounting of the adapter on the delivery member, even when products having a smaller diameter than the delivery member is sold, the delivery member can be smoothly rotated without raising products located above a product for next sale and can surely deliver the product for sale.
In the case of the product delivery apparatus provided in conventional serpentine columns, when there are a plurality of columns, the product delivery apparatus should be provided for each column. In addition, since a solenoid is used, the production cost is increased. On the other hand, in the case of the another conventional product delivery apparatus, products having various diameters can be delivered by mounting an adapter on the delivery member. However, several types of adapter should be provided according to products to be sold. Further, when the product to be sold is changed to products having a different diameter, troublesome adapter mounting work should be performed. There is also room for improvement in these points.
The invention has been made with a view to solving the above problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the invention to provide a product delivery apparatus for a vending machine which can be produced at a lower cost than the product delivery apparatus provided in conventional serpentine columns, and is advantageous in that products having various sizes can be surely delivered one by one without use of any adapter.
A product delivery apparatus for a vending machine defined by claim 1, adapted for delivering downward a product for sale located lowermost at the time of selling among a plurality of products stored in such a state that they lie sideways and are vertically stacked on top of one another, comprises:
a vertically extended product passage for storing the plurality of products, defined by two vertically extended passage walls which have been disposed so as to face each other while leaving a predetermined space therebetween;
a product delivery drum which is provided at the lower end of the product passage so as to be rotatable around an axis line horizontally extended in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the two passage walls face each other and is extended along the axis line; and
drive means which, at the time of selling, drives and rotates the product delivery drum at a predetermined angle to deliver the product for sale,
said product delivery drum comprising: a first product supporting face which is disposed outside the axis line, is concaved in an arc form toward the axis line, and, under stand-by condition, supports the product for sale from the underside of the product for sale in such a state that the lower part of the product for sale is accommodated within the first product supporting face, while, at the time of selling, upon the rotation of the product delivery drum, the product for sale is delivered toward one of the two passage walls; and a second product supporting face, which is continued from the first product supporting face, is extended concentrically with respect to the axis line, and, at the time of selling, supports a product for next sale, from the underside of the product for next sale, located just above the product for sale,
said product passage having an enlarged-width section at the lower end of one of the passage walls, for permitting the passage of the product for sale.
According to this construction, under stand-by condition, among a plurality of products stored in a product passage in such a state that they lie sideways and are vertically stacked on top of one another, the lowermost product for sale is supported from the underside of the product for sale by the first product supporting face in the product delivery drum in such a state that the lower part of the product for sale is accommodated in the first product supporting face. At the time of selling, as soon as the product delivery drum driven and rotated by drive means is rotated around the axis line, the first product supporting face is rotated around the axis line and consequently faces one of the passage walls, whereby the product for sale is delivered in the state of being supported by the first product supporting face to the enlarged-width section. Further, in this case, the second product supporting face is also rotated around the axis line and reaches beneath the product for next sale to support the product for next sale from the underside of the product for next sale. Upon the rotation of the product delivery drum to a predetermined angle, the product for sale is separated from the first product supporting face, passed through the enlarged-width section, and delivered downward. On the other hand, upon further rotation of the product delivery drum, the product for next sale supported by the second product supporting face is delivered from the second product supporting face to the first product supporting face, thereby permitting the product for next sale to be supported by the first product supporting face and to now become a product for sale.
Thus, according to the product delivery apparatus having the above construction, the product for sale is delivered by rotating the product delivery drum provided at the lower end of the product passage. This, unlike the prior art, can eliminate the need to use any solenoid, and can realize the production of the product delivery apparatus at a lower cost than the conventional product delivery apparatus provided in conventional serpentine columns. Further, for the product for sale and the product for next sale stored in the product passage, as described above, a certain range of size (for example, diameter), which can be supported by the first product supporting face and the second product supporting face, suffices for good results. Therefore, unlike the prior art, various products having the certain range of size can be surely delivered one by one without use of any adapter or the like.
The product delivery apparatus according to claim 1 defined by claim 2 may further comprises a product holding member which is constructed so as to be movable between a stand-by position facing, in a projected state, the enlarged-width section and a delivery position for permitting the passage of the product for sale, and, at the time of selling, is moved from the stand-by position toward the delivery position and holds the product for sale until the second product supporting face supports the product for next sale.
According to this construction, since the product holding member moved from the stand-by position toward the delivery position at the time of selling holds the product for sale until the second product supporting face supports the product for next sale, the product for next sale remains stacked on top of the product for sale and is supported from its underside by the product for sale, thereby preventing downward movement to an extent more than necessary. That is, at the time of selling, even though the product for next sale approaches the first product supporting face, the distance between the product for next sale and the axis line does not become shorter than the distance between the second product supporting face and the axis line. Therefore, the product for next sale is not caught in the end of the first product supporting face. This permits the product delivery drum to be smoothly rotated to properly deliver the product for sale.
In the product delivery apparatus according to claim 2 defined by claim 3, the product holding member may be provided so as to be rotatable relative to the product delivery drum around the axis line, and which may further comprise holding member drive means which, when the product holding member is moved to the delivery position to deliver the product for sale, drives the product holding member from the delivery position to the stand-by position.
According to this construction, at the time of selling, as soon as the product holding member is moved, upon the rotation of the product delivery drum, to a delivery position to deliver the product for sale, the product holding member is driven from the delivery position to the stand-by position by the holding member drive means. Therefore, upon further rotation of the product delivery drum, the product holding member is not moved beyond the delivery position to a position opposite to the stand-by position. This can eliminate the need to provide a space for the movement of the product holding member to a position opposite to the enlarged-width section, that is, until the product delivery drum is located between the enlarged-width section and the product holding member. Therefore, the product delivery drum can be disposed near one passage wall facing the other passage wall. This can realize saving of a space of the product passage around the product delivery drum.
This product delivery apparatus according to claim 3 defined by claim 4 may be constructed so that a product holding member is constructed to be rotatable toward the delivery position upon being pushed by the weight of the product for sale, a stopper is further provided which inhibits the rotation of the product holding member toward the delivery position at a predetermined angle or more to the product delivery drum, and said holding member drive means is formed of a spring which energizes the product holding member to the stand-by position.
According to this construction, the product holding member is constructed so as to be rotatable toward the delivery position upon pressing by the weight of the product for sale (self-weight). Therefore, the rotation of the product holding member by an angle according to the size of the product permits the product for sale supported by the first product supporting face to be properly held independently of the size of the product. That is, in the case of holding of the product for sale in such a state that the lower part of the product for sale is accommodated in a space defined by the first product supporting face and the product holding member, when the space is smaller than the lower part of the product for sale, pressing of the product for sale against the product holding member permits the space to be automatically increased to a size suitable for the lower part of the product for sale. The spring constituting the holding member drive means, when the product holding member is energized to the stand-by position, remains the product for sale in contact with the product holding member. Further, the stopper inhibits the rotation of the product holding member toward the delivery position at a predetermined angle or more to the product delivery drum. Thus, under stand-by condition and under selling condition, the product for sale can be automatically properly held according to the size of the product for sale. Further, as described above, when the holding member drive means is constituted by a spring, the holding member drive means has both the function of driving the product holding member to the stand-by position and the function of allowing the product holding, member to always be in contact with the product for sale. This can simplify the structure and can reduce the cost.
In the product delivery apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4 defined by claim 5. The product holding member may comprise: a first projection which extends along the axis line and is projected toward the enlarged-width section to a first projection length; and a second projection which is adjacent to the first projection, extends along the axis line, and is projected toward the enlarged-width section to a second projection length shorter than the first projection length.
According to this construction, at the time of selling, disposition and supporting of two products for sale having the same size on the first product supporting face of the product delivery drum along the axis line so as to be supported respectively by the first projection and the second projection permit the two products to be delivered at different rotation angles of the product delivery drum before the product delivery drum makes one revolution. More specifically, at the time of selling, upon the rotation of the product delivery drum, the second projection projected to a second projection length first reaches the delivery position, whereby the product for sale held by the second projection is delivered. The product delivery drum is allowed to remain stopped in this state, and, upon further rotation of the product delivery drum in next selling, the first projection reaches the delivery position, whereby the product for sale held by the first projection is delivered. Therefore, before the product delivery drum makes one revolution, one product can be delivered in each of the two selling operations. As compared with the case where one product is sold for each revolution of the product delivery drum, this can reduce the power consumption for rotating the product delivery drum at the time of selling.
In the product delivery apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 defined by claim 6, an entry inhibition member may be further provided on one of the passage walls. The entry inhibition member is constructed so as to be movable between a position of retraction from the enlarged-width section and a position of projection toward the enlarged-width section, and, at the time of selling, upon the rotation of the product delivery drum, is moved from the retraction position to the projection position to inhibit the entry of the product for next sale into the enlarged-width section.
According to this construction, at the time of selling, upon the rotation of the product delivery drum, the entry inhibition member is moved from the retraction position to the projection position to inhibit the entry of the product for next sale into the enlarged-width section. This can surely prevent the product for next sale from accidentally entering the enlarged-width section at the time of selling. As a result, the so-called xe2x80x9cdelivery of two products at a timexe2x80x9d can be surely prevented wherein two products are delivered in a single selling operation.
The product delivery apparatus according any one of claims 1 to 6 defined by claim 7 may be constructed so that the product passage is composed of two product passages each having the product delivery drum and adjacent to each other, and the drive means comprises a single drive source and connection switch means which, at the time of selling, performs selective switching to any one of the product delivery drums in the two product passages and connects the drive source to the selected product delivery drum.
According to this construction, a single drive source as the drive means is connected to any one of the product delivery drums, selected by switching through connection switch means, in the two product passages adjacent to each other. Therefore, a single drive source can be used for driving both the product delivery drums. By virtue this construction, the product delivery apparatus can be produced at a lower cost than the product delivery apparatus wherein a drive source is provided for each of the product delivery drums.